B
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders found their guy under center in Ward: B.
by Raiders ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 8 steals
· 1 reaches
Call it larceny. Jeffrey Bassa sat on the board until the Round 6 slot, and the Raiders did not need to be asked twice. It does the job without flash, and the B reflects it.
Cam Ward is the bet, and the class will be judged on how it pays off. The Prather reach is the anchor dragging on the value grade.
It is not that Knight Jr. is a bad player; it is that the Raiders had louder needs to answer first. The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer.
A competent weekend that does not make headlines and does not need to.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 6 they get the arm they will build around. A clean fit for the roster.
Walter Nolen is a better player than the 37th overall pick suggests; smart patience, rewarded. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They barely believed it either: Xavier Watts still on the board at pick No. 68. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
You do not let a linebacker like Jihaad Campbell reach pick 73 and blink. They did not. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
They zigged when the board said zag, taking Demetrius Knight Jr. at linebacker with edge rusher, cornerback and other spots open.
A offensive lineman of that caliber at slot 142 is the definition of value, full stop. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board fumbled Billy Bowman Jr. all the way to the 178th overall pick, and they scooped it up. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
They robbed the room for Jeffrey Bassa here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, Joshua Gray in the Round 6 slot, plain and simple. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They reached into another round for Kaden Prather, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.